A Pleasant Christmas Morning
by gumballbat
Summary: My story for day 30 of the Zosan Christmas Exchange. Our favorite cook and Kendo master are now getting older - and they've finally settled down and started a family. Modern AU.


Silently, two young kids walked slowly towards their parent's bedroom door. The younger boy giggled, and the older girl whacked him on the head.

"Hey-" The boy nearly yelled, but before that could happen, the boy's sister slapped her hand over his mouth.

"What do you think you're doing? Stay quiet," she hissed, and soon they were tip-toeing across the hardwood floors once again, the girl's hand still pressed tightly against his mouth.

And, inside their parent's room, were two men sleeping, all cuddled up together. A green haired dojo master laid with his arms wrapped around a blond, who was a restaurant owner and top chef. They slept quietly, save the dojo master's snores cutting in every once in a while.

Today was Christmas. The two kids had attempted to stay up and catch Santa, but after they had helped their dad whip up some cookies (which were delicious), they had been exhausted. They had passed out near the fireplace, where the dojo master and head chef had shared smiles over their sleeping forms.

But now, since they had missed Santa, they were going to wake up their parents. And they were going to be loud.

Flashing each other mischievous grins, the two kids opened up the door to their parent's room and immediately started giggling and yelling.

"Dad, dad! It's Christmas! There's presents and everything and c'mon, lets go open them!" The children yelled in unison, as they jumped up on their bed and started bouncing around. Both the master and the chef woke up, startled at first, but slowly, smiles travelled across their faces.

"Brats. Waking me up at this time," Zoro grumbled, sounding annoyed but his grin said otherwise. He sat up, and took each kid in one arm.

"Who said there was presents, huh? You didn't see Santa last night, did you?" The green haired male teased, and Sanji nearly chided him when their kids seemed to deflate.

"Gosh Marimo. No one can resist our cooking, so of course he came," the blond said matter-of-factly, to which the kids started getting giddy once more.

"Yeah, dad," the young boy, named Patrick said while sticking out his tongue. "Me and papa worked a long time on those cookies!" Zoro rolled his eyes, while ruffling his boy's messy hair. "Oh, you had Sanji help you? Then Santa probably keeled over before he even sat down the presents," he joked wryly, as the master chef scoffed.

"Dad, papa, you know why we're hereee," the girl, Vérène whined. "The presents! We wanna open the presents!" Zoro and Sanji collectively sighed, while glancing to each other with small grins.

"Impatient now, aren't we?" Zoro asked, as he slowly got up, his sweats hanging from his hips snugly.

"Hey! If Vérène wants to open presents, we'll open presents! Anything for my little princess ~" The chef spouted softly, causing Vérène to burst out into small giggles. The whole thing was too sweet for Zoro and Patrick, so they were making their way out.

"Fine. We'll open presents. But cook, make us something to eat as we do," Zoro called over his shoulder. The cook snorted lightly, as he too got up out of bed, with Vérène in his arms.

"Yeah yeah, Neanderthal. I'll make everyone a big Christmas breakfast. How does that sound?" Sanji asked with a wide smile. There was a collection of hums in agreement as the family made their way to the fancy kitchen.

Zoro and Vérène got their seats at the bar, as Sanji got to work with the aid of Patrick. Zoro looked over to Vérène and smiled as she grinned at him.

"What are you grinning like that for?" Zoro decided to ask, while reaching out a hand to lightly ruffle the girl's blonde hair. She just kept grinning and leaned away from the green haired man's big hand.

Patrick was working hard with Sanji, and everyone was feeling pretty happy at the moment. Even though they lost a few Z's, it was totally worth it.

Vérène and Patrick are two kids that Zoro and Sanji adopted three years ago. At the time, Patrick had been two and Vérène had been three. Patrick had been born in Ireland, where Zoro and Sanji had found him in an orphanage when they had been on vacation there. Vérène was originally born in France, but her parents had moved to the States soon after. She had been put in an orphanage in New York, which is where the family resides now.

They had a nice apartment, not too big or too small, and it also had a great view over the city of Manhattan. The small family lived in peace.

Several dings of a timer went off, and Patrick and Sanji were whirring around the kitchen, although it was mostly Sanji. He didn't want their little boy to get burnt or anything.

Zoro smiled softly as he watched the two cook. The breakfast was simple, but Zoro knew better. The blond would make it delectable, even with the worst of leftovers. And he knew that the blond enjoyed letting Patrick help him, so of course they'd start with something easy.

The dojo master turned to look at Vérène, and nearly laughed out loud when he caught her staring at the presents like they were the only things she wanted in her life.

"You excited, huh?" He asked the little girl, and she merely nodded enthusiastically, but didn't take her eyes off those presents. They were sitting elegantly under the Christmas tree, the window behind it not shining with the dawn sun just yet.

Even though Zoro didn't really care, the oddly green haired man hadn't planned on celebrating Christmas this year with their adopted kids. But, after much persuasion from the shitty cook and their kids, the man had went to Walmart and got the best tree they had (which, wasn't saying much.)

So now, there was a huge tree in the corner of their living room with lights and trimming and everything. Complete with a small angel topper and a generous amount of presents underneath the beautiful green pine tree.

Vérène was soon ripped away from whatever dream she was having about those presents when her blond father set down a plate of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and sausage in front of her. When the dojo master got his, they both started eating immediately; even though they wouldn't admit it, they both enjoyed Patrick's and Sanji's cooking quite a lot.

With a victorious grin, Sanji dished himself and Patrick a plate, and took it over to the other side of the bar to eat together.

The small family ate in silence, besides the occasional sound of a fork scraping against a plate.

Looking to the side, Zoro broke out in a huge grin. Vérène had her cheeks stuffed to the max, her mouth totally full. Resisting the urge to outright laugh at the scene, Zoro quickly swallowed whatever was in his mouth.

"Better settle down there. Don't want you to choke," the green haired male warned, as his blonde daughter stubbornly swallowed all of it. Sanji mirrored the grin Zoro had spread across his face, and Patrick just ate like he did regularly. He didn't seem as excited as his sister did.

Vérène ate quickly, and soon her plate was clean. She sat there, kicking her feet back and forth impatiently. The young girl was so cute. But it wasn't like they weren't going to tease her.

Zoro started eating slower, deliberately trying to make his daughter mad at him. At first she hadn't noticed, but after while she started frowning.

"Daddy, that's totally not cool," she mumbled, looking very discouraged. She knew she couldn't be excused from the table until one of the 'adults' said it was okay, and even then she'd still have to put her plate in the sink.

Zoro and Sanji couldn't help but start laughing. Sanji tried to hide it behind his hand, but Zoro laughed loudly. Vérène pouted even more, and after Zoro's chuckling died down, he hurried up with the rest of his food.

"Alright alright. Sanji, Patrick, are you guys finished? We have presents to open," he said enthusiastically, and got up, picking up both his and Vérène's plates. The girl smiled wide, and jumped off the bar stool.

"Yay! We're going to open presents and drink hot coco and everything! Hurry guys," she practically yelled from her spot on the floor.

Still grinning, Zoro walked on over to the kitchen sink and put their plates and utensils in, not even caring that they were dirty. Then, he walked on back over, to where they were all gathered around the tree. It was a nice little sight.

Sanji had zipped on over to the kitchen once more, and started on making some of his famous hot chocolate. Zoro heard his voice ring through the house.

"Don't you dare start opening those presents without me being there!" The chef yelled from his spot in the kitchen. Zoro smiled lightly, and merely yelled back, "Alright cook. Don't get your underwear in a bunch."

The blond growled loudly from the kitchen, and Patrick and Vérène shared identical smiles. Though it did get on their nerves every once in a while, they loved to see their parents fight and bicker. But, Patrick was still egging them on, while Vérène had started to grow embarrassed at their antics. Especially if they were in the grocery store, or at their school.

Eventually, Sanji was leaving the kitchen with a cup of specialized hot chocolate for everyone, holding it with precision that came with years of serving tables. He made sure the coasters were in the correct place, and set all of the steaming drinks down in their respective places.

The two children immediately grabbed their mugs, and blew on the top lightly. There was marshmallow cream and regular big, fluffy marshmallows floating within the drinks. Ah, this was the best.

The dojo master sighed happily, and sat back in the couch. At least the children still had some patience. Though, it seemed that it was wearing thin. They were so ready to open up their presents.

After a few quiet moments, Sanji sat down his mug. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked, smiling at their two kids. Vérène gasped, and set her cup down onto the coaster as well.

Everyone settled down, either keeping their mugs with them and continuing to sip or excitedly setting their mugs down and reaching for the presents. There wasn't much of them, but that was okay. They didn't expect much anyways. Apparently, Sanji and Zoro have done a pretty good job so far with them. They aren't super stuck up or spoiled. It was pretty nice...

Vérène was the first start reaching for the presents. She picked up one of the bigger ones first, and looked at the name tag on it. It seemed it was for Patrick, so she handed it over to him, where he took it carefully. He was pretty intrigued by it, and was soon tearing into it happily. Zoro and Sanji watched, small, identical smiles taking presence on their faces.

The French girl stood by, not wanting to take the spot light from Patrick. It was his present, it was his time to open it.

Patrick slowly peeled the neatly done wrapping paper off (which was obviously done by Sanji), and the first thing he saw was the card inside. He looked at the big box, and was genuinely surprised to find a a telescope of some sort in it. He'd been enthusing over space quite a lot recently, but he didn't know that they were planning on getting something for looked pretty expensive, so he really hoped he wouldn't end up accidentally breaking it.

The young boy looked up at his parents for a moment, with a huge smile spread across his face. "This is awesome!" He exclaimed, as he pulled off the rest of the wrapping paper. He couldn't exactly read the words on the box just yet, but he sure looked like he was. He took the card, and opened it up. It was mostly pictures, but Sanji had insisted on getting him one.

It simply read, "Love, Dad and Papa." He could recognize those words.

Jumping up carefully, Patrick ran over to the couch and jumped up to where Zoro and Sanji sat. The parents smiled and laughed gently, as they both hugged him tightly.

"is that what you wanted?" Sanji asked as he used one hand to ruffle the boy's red hair playfully. "Yeah! Thank you so much!" He said with a big grin, and kissed them both on the cheek.

"Want to check it out tonight? The sun is starting to rise, so we missed our chance for the morning. But I'm sure tonight we could go out and find a good place to stargaze. We could go into New York City, I know a good place in there," Zoro suggested. Patrick nodded enthusiastically, while sitting back so he could look at his parents.

"Yeah! That'd be even awesomer," he said with a big smile. Sanji scowled. "That's not a word," he scolded playfully, to which Patrick stuck his tongue out. Sanji merely shook his head, and Patrick jumped from their laps back to the spot next to his sister.

"Cool huh?" He asked her, where she nodded happily in response. Setting it to the side, Patrick and Vérène started looking for more presents they could unwrap.

Meanwhile, Zoro and Sanji lounged on the couch, drinking their hot cocoa. It was really heart warming to see their children unwrapping presents they had so carefully hand picked. Or, at least to the kids, that they had picked about half of them and Santa the other half.

Vérène grabbed the next closest present, and looked at the tag. It was from Santa, and it had her name on it!

"See daddy! Santa did come," she said with a grin, while tearing into the wrapping paper excitedly. Zoro rolled his eyes, and Sanji just snickered behind his mug. The little French girl looked pretty cute with her hair in pigtails, and opening up a present that was nearly her size. Too bad they didn't have a camera or anything like that.

The blond girl was giggling the entire time. She was obviously excited. This was her first present, how couldn't she be?

Zoro crossed his legs, and watched as he cuddled up next to his cook. Sanji looked like he was thoroughly enjoying everything. Maybe it really was worth spending a shit ton of money on lights, the tree, and everything else.  
>Smiling lightly, Zoro tightened his hold on the blond. What was he saying? It was definitely worth it.<p>

Slowly, Vérène pulled the wrapping paper off neatly. Unlike some people.

Looking down at the item in her hands, Vérène lit up, very similar to the Christmas tree.

There was a a hefty volume of kendo techniques and forms. It was the first out of what looked like a big series.

"Woah! This is so cool!" She said with a grin. She couldn't read all that well just yet, but she'd get one of her daddies to help her.

"When can I start practicing?" She asked, looking straight to Zoro. The green haired man grinned. That was his girl.

"Later. We should go back to sleep for an hour or two and then maybe we can try a few things out. Also, be careful with that. It's pretty old," he warned.

Vérène merely nodded happily. It was pretty cool. Especially since they would be able to go and practice with it!

Meanwhile, Patrick was starting to open another present that had his name written on it.  
>They both were working on their own presents, and though Zoro had thought that they'd be ripping into them mercilessly, he was still happy to see them happy.<p>

Sanji sipped out of his mug, happily enjoying everything that was unfolding before him. Their kids were happy, they were happy. This day literally couldn't be better.

After Vérène and Patrick had gotten everything open, they looked over their loot they got. They had some Christmas sweaters with awkward cards from their Grandpa Zeff, Vérène got really gorgeous (yet durable) jewelry from their aunts Robin and Nami, Patrick got amazing robot building sets from their uncles Luffy and Franky. They both got art sets from uncle Usopp. And, uncle Brook got them music theory starter books - and a promise to get them any instrument they might want. That would be a journey…

At this point, the two kids were tired from waking up so early and being so excited. But, one glance towards each other and they smiled.

"There's one more present, for you two, Daddy and Papa!" Vérène exclaimed happily. Zoro and Sanji looked to each other, with a slightly confused smile, then looked back to their kids.

"Oh?" Sanji asked, which Patrick merely nodded, and then stood up. Him and Vérène rushed to their room.

"What do you think it could be?" Zoro murmured, wondering just what exactly their kids could have planned. Sanji just shrugged. He was just as surprised as he was.

Eventually, Patrick and Vérène came out of their room. They each had something behind their backs. They were giggling, and just looked super happy.

"Close your eyes!" Vérène said, when they stopped at their feet.

"And hold out your hands," Patrick added. Zoro and Sanji did as their children asked.

Vérène waved a free hand in front of their faces, making sure they weren't peeking or anything. Because that wouldn't be fair.

Patrick took the poorly wrapped present from behind his back, and set it in Zoro's outstretched palms. "Can I open my eyes?" Zoro asked jokingly, where Vérène rolled her eyes.

"Of course," she said, and set the present she had in Sanji's hands.

The parents opened their eyes, and looked down at the presents that had been wrapped so meticulously (by a six year old standards). Small smiles slipped onto their faces.

Slowly, they opened their respective presents. Sanji's had only one layer, so it was easy to get to.

Once he pulled everything off, Sanji pulled out a pair of white oven mitts. They had little hand prints on each with different colored paint. Vérène was quick to explain.

"The pink one is mine, and the purple one is Patrick's!" She said happily. Sanji smiled wide. They were high grade oven mitts. The paint was kind of sloppy, and he didn't know if he'd be able to use them without the paint coming off, but that was alright! It was a precious gift, which Sanji appreciated.

"Aw, come here," Sanji said while holding out his arms to his young children. Patrick and Vérène both jumped into his arms, and cuddled close to him. It was starting to get colder in the living room.

Zoro had yet opened his present. He was taking his time, trying not to break anything inside. It was pretty hefty, and seemed… Breakable?

He got the cheesy wrapping paper off, and pulled the tissue paper off as well. It was a mug. It had "World's Greatest Dad" on it, and then with bad handwriting (it was obviously written by Patrick), on the side it read "and kendo master." Zoro laughed, as he looked over the mug. It was really cute.

"These are great," Zoro said with a grin, as he set the mug on the table and took Patrick from the blond.

"You guys are the best," Zoro said while hugging Patrick. He pressed happy kisses to his face, and Patrick laughed a little.

"But you guys are the bester," Vérène said happily, and was sent into a fit of giggles when Sanji sighed.

Patrick yawned quietly, and Zoro moved over to Sanji and leaned against his husband. Everyone was getting tired and cuddling with each other by the fire. They'd have quite a mess to clean up later that day. But it was okay.

Patrick and Vérène had passed out quite quickly. So now it was just dads cuddling besides each other with their children. It was really awesome.

Zoro sighed, and looked to his beautiful husband.

"Aren't they the sweetest?" He murmured quietly, while stroking Patrick's red hair. Sanji nodded. He was sporting a wide grin.

"Yeah. That was a real surprise," he said while holding Vérène a little closer to him. Zoro smiled, and leaned close to the cook.

Gently, he pressed a soft kiss to the blond's soft lips. Resting his forehead against his, Zoro let his eye lids shut.

"Merry Christmas, shitty cook," Zoro murmured happily, and quite sleepily.

"Merry Christmas, moss-for-brains," Sanji answered with a snort. Slowly, they drifted off into sleep. The fire was perfect, their kids were sleeping with them in their arms.

It was quite the pleasant Christmas morning.


End file.
